Jan Axel Blomberg

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Jan Axel Blomberg behind his drums

Jan Axel Blomberg (born August 2, 1969 in Trysil , Norway), better known under the pseudonym Hellhammer , is a Norwegian drummer who is best known for his engagement with Mayhem . He plays in various Norwegian metal bands.

biography

Arcturus live 2005

Jan Axel Blomberg was enthusiastic about playing drums at a young age. He initially taught himself the instrument by playing the music he was listening to. His early influences were not only popular heavy metal bands like Iron Maiden but also pop greats like Duran Duran and Depeche Mode . In the 1980s he discovered the first black metal bands like Venom and Celtic Frost . Another component that would shape his style of drumming was jazz . His drum teacher taught him to play the drums on an old jazz drum kit. Blomberg's drumming is regarded as virtuoso, with a “clock frequency that would make any machine gun crack,” but was described in a concert report as “often very mechanical and artificial”; Although he plays “everything live, many of the tones are chased through an effects device that makes the sounds appear partly synthetic”.

Blomberg played in several local bands and also had a couple of live appearances before replacing Kjetil Manheim at Mayhem in 1988. At this time he adopted the pseudonym Hellhammer, which was based on the Swiss band of the same name . In 1991 he founded the band Arcturus .

With Mayhem he published the live album Live in Leipzig and contributions to the sampler Projections of a Stained Mind . After the assassination of the guitarist Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth , he was the driving force behind the release of the first regular album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas . In order to release the album, he promised Euronymous 'parents, originally from Euronymous' murderer Varg Vikernes rehearsed bass tracks to have to re-record. These bass tracks can still be heard on the released version. Already at the grave of Euronymous he decided to continue the band together with Jørn Stubberud (Necrobutcher); however, the band's satanic background fell away. Blomberg pointed out that none of the new cast was a Satanist; He said in an interview in 1994 that he was not drawn to the dark, but was only interested in black metal because of the music and also in numerous other musical styles.

In 1995 Blomberg accompanied the band Immortal on their European tour and also appeared in their music video Grim and Frostbitten Kingdoms (1995 on the video cassette Masters of Nebulah Frost ). Arcturus' debut album Aspera hiems symfonia was released in 1996. In 1997 he released another album with this band. In 1997 he joined the band Covenant , which later had to be renamed The Kovenant for legal reasons. With this band, Blomberg won the Spellemann Prize in 1998 for Nexus Polaris and in 1999 for Animatronic , the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy Award . In 2000 the second Mayhem album Grand Declaration of War was released . In the same year he also played a mini album for Winds , in 2001 he played on their debut album. With Mayhem he again won the Spellemann Prize in the Metal category for the fourth band album Ordo Ad Chao in 2007.

In addition to the main bands Mayhem, Arcturus and The Kovenant, he is also involved in other projects such as Age of Silence and Mezzerschmitt and has played on various albums by well-known bands such as Dimmu Borgir , Shining and Troll , or accompanied them on tours.

Criticism brought him from the black metal scene an engagement with the Christian black metal band Antestor , with whom he recorded the EP Det Tapte Liv and the album The Forsaken .

He is also known for several racist interview statements made in the 1990s . In 2004 he said he didn't care what skin color the listeners of his music were, but in an interview conducted in 2007 he confirmed that he was still behind his earlier statement that black metal was only for whites.

In 2005 Blomberg participated in the documentary Metal - A Headbanger's Journey . In 2009 he supported Nicolas Cage's son Arcane as session drummer on the debut album Inceptum by his band Eyes of Noctum .

Discography

with Mayhem

• 1991: Carnage (and The Freezing Moon for the CD version ) on Projections of a Stained Mind
• 1993: Live in Leipzig
• 1994: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
• 1995: Pagan Fears on Nordic Metal - A Tribute to Euronymous
• 1996: Visual Aggression on In Memory of Celtic Frost
• 1997: Wolf's Lair Abyss (EP)
• 1997: Ancient Skin / Necrolust (single)
• 1998: Live in Bischofswerda (VHS)
• 1998: De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (rehearsal room recording) on A Tribute to Hell - Satanic Rites
• 1999: Necrolust / Total Warfare ( split with Zyklon-B )
• 2000: Grand Declaration of War
• 2001: European Legions ( Best-of )
• 2001: US Legions (Best-of)
• 2001: European Legions: Live in Marseille 2000 (VHS)
• 2002: Jihad / Freezing Moon (Split with The Meads of Asphodel )
• 2002: The Studio Experience (Box)
• 2003: Cursed in Eternity and Freezing Moon (alternative mixes) on The Beast of Attila
• 2004: Chimera
• 2004: Anno Vempyr on Apocalypse
• 2007: Ordo Ad Chao
• 2008: Life Eternal (EP)
• 2008: Pure Fucking Mayhem (documentary)
• 2014: Psywar (single)
• 2014: Esoteric Warfare
• 2019: Daemon

with Arcturus

• see Arcturus # discography

with The Kovenant

• 1998: Nexus Polaris
• 1999: Animatronic
• 2003: SETI

with Thorns

• 1998: Thorns Vs. Emperor (Split CD)
• 2001: Thorns

with troll

• 2000: The Last Predators
• 2001: Universal

with Jorn

• 2001: Worldchanger
• 2007: The Gathering

with Mezzerschmitt

• see Mezzerschmitt # discography

with shining

• 2002: Angst, Självdestruktivitetens Emissari
• 2005: The Eerie Cold

with winds

• 2002: Reflections of the I
• 2007: Prominence and Demise
• 2004: The Imaginary Direction of Time

with Age of Silence

• 2004: Acceleration

with Antestor

• 2004: Det Tapte Liv
• 2004: The Forsaken

with Dimmu Borgir

• 2005: Stormblåst 2005
• 2007: In the Diaboli variety

with Carnivora

• 2006: Re-Incarnal

with Umoral

• 2007: Umoral

with Eyes of Noctum

• 2007: Inceptum

with Dynasty of Darkness

• 2014: Empire of Pain

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Robert Müller: Mayhem. Wolf's Lair Abyss. In: Metal Hammer. December 1997, p. 84.
2. ↑ Michael Schäfer: Mayhem + Aeternus + Red Harvest + Griffin. In: Metal Hammer. November 2000, p. 142.
3. ↑ Interview with Jan Axel Blomberg from SOD Mag on the official band page ( Memento from August 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ Interview with Jan Axel Blomberg on the official band page ( Memento from August 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
5. ^ Det Svarte Alvor. 1994.
6. ↑ Vinnere av Spellemannprisen 2007  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ “I would like to put it this way, we don't like black people here. Black metal is for whites. [...] I'm pretty sure that there are racial differences, like everything else. I think that as with animals, some breeds are more like ... you know, like a cat is more intelligent than a bird or a cow, or even a dog, and I mean, the breeds are too. ”Interview in: Michael Moynhian, Didrik Søderlind: Lords of Chaos : The Bloody Rise from the Underground . Prophecy Publishing, 2002, ISBN 3-936878-00-5 , p. 373.
8. ↑ “I have a lot of wishes, for example that Norway will become a foreigner-free country again. […] Norway is supposed to be inhabited by only one race again. Mixing different races only creates problems. ”Interview in: Brother Clé: Mythen, Mord & Metal . In: Ablaze . 6, September / October, 1995, pp. 13 .
9. ↑ Akim: Hellhammer - interview (29.09.2004) .
10. ↑ Rob Noxious: Mayhem ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 

Web links

• Biography on Axis Percussion